NuTone Central Vacuum Installation Guide (p.1)

Planning for your kind of house...

When planning for a Built-In Vac (Central Vacuum) Cleaning System, you must first decide how to run the tubing from place to place and level to level. Different kinds of houses require different kinds of approaches. Although your house is unique to you, it is probably built in one of three basic construction styles: ranch, two-story, or split-level.

Take a close look at the examples, paying special attention to where the power unit is located, how the tubing is run, and where the inlets are located. Taking a close look at all of the examples will help you start thinking about finding the accessible areas of your own house.

The Ranch Style Home

The power unit is mounted in the garage, a convenient location for outdoor cleaning chores. The intake and exhaust tubing, the only exposed tubing in the installation, runs up the garage wall and into the attic. The trunk line runs horizontally through the attic from the power unit to the farthest inlet location. Branch lines spread throughout the attic, connecting the trunk line to the inlet tubing. Each inlet line is threaded vertically through an inside wall. Located in hallways, next to doorways, and in large rooms, the inlets are placed to provide maximum accesses to all cleaning areas.

The Two Story Home

In this installation, the power unit is mounted in the basement, conveniently located for shop use and messy cleaning jobs. The intake tubing runs up the basement wall and connects to the main trunk line, which runs along the unfinished basement ceiling. Two first-floor inlets are connected to the trunk line by vertical inlet lines running through interior walls. In the center of the house a vertical branch line runs from the basement trunk line, through stacked closets, up into the attic. A second trunk line runs across the attic and two branch lines connect to inlet lines which are dropped down through upstairs interior walls.

This double-trunk line system is commonly used in two-story houses. Finding the "key" to an accessible vertical area is the most important step in this kind of installation. (See "Getting from level to level.")

The Split-Level Home

Like the two-story house, the split level installation commonly calls for a two-level trunk line. Here, the power unit is located in the garage. The intake tubing runs exposed up the garage wall and into the ground level section's attic. Two branch lines connect this part of the trunk line to inlet lines which are dropped inside interior walls. A vertical branch line runs to the upstairs attic where the trunk line branches into into a T-shape. This trunk line connects to tow upstairs inlet lines and to one inlet line which drops through an upstairs wall and down into the third-level utility room. This last inlet services both the utility room and a large L-shaped recreation room.